Gig economy – new research from the CIPD

New research from the CIPD has just been released and will be used to help inform the UK Government about future employment practices. According to the report, 1.3 million people in the UK are in so called gig economy participants who trade time and skills through online platforms and provide a service to a third party as a form of paid employment. Interestingly 14% say they work this way because they can’t find other employment. Concerns about the growth of this way of working include security of income.

‘The gig economy has not, as yet, fundamentally changed the nature of work in the UK. Over the past 20 years the share of people in permanent employee jobs has remained high by international standards and has not greatly changed.’

The CIPD provides some recommendations which include providing more support to business around how to improve their working practices to support these kinds of workers as well as looking at the UK’s employment rights framework to make sure it reflects how people work. The report includes case studies as well as suggestions for employers.